Dave_the_bass

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1377863344' post='2192898'] Your money is always best spent on a better bass. If you're bored don't mess around with the bass, get lessons and practice. If you like the bass but don't like the tone get a good outboard eq. [/quote] Right, let's clear this up. I'm not bored, yep I could probably do with practicing more but couldn't "most" of us. I love the tanglewood bass and the tone; the main issues it has are crackle and hum from the pots/shielding (was never that noticable with an Ashdown amp) and really weak output from the pups (again not too noticable with an SS amp but now I have a valve pre that I like to go just a shade gravelly it's not cutting the mustard). I'm thinking that it's going to be a case of head to a music shop, try out a couple of PJ basses and make a decision from there. Thanks for your thoughts folks.

That's logical, yep I have a tech I trust. Although, I like to tinker myself so doing the pots, wiring n' stuff is something I'll happily sit down and do. Decisions, decisions.

Suffering from some undefined GAS at the moment so I'm looking for some advice on trying to cure it. I have a Tanglewood Rebel (pre 4k models) that was my very first bass and I still love to play. It's genuinely road worn from 16 years of giging and rehearsing which gives it an even bigger sentimental value. It had been semi-retired to a home use/backup bass as the electrics have started to suffer from age releated deterioration. Having recently changed bands; my thunderbird is a bit "wrong" for new band (plus the action is that low that it won't tune down to Eb) so I've gone back to the Tanglewood. I love PJ basses, that P pickup on full giving a nice thump with just a small amount of the J bridge pup to warm it up, so the Tanglewood ticks the sound and looks box. Now for the million dollar question; do I A, upgrade the electrics; new pups, pots, socket, wiring and shielding or B, Allow the Tanglewood to reclaim it's semi retired state and purchase a new PJ bass If the wife would give approval for a roscoe century 4 or similar then this would not be an issue; I'd be at bass direct placing an order! However, decent upgrades for the Tanglewood will probably cost me at least as much as a Squier VM PJ! So, your suggestions please folks as I have serious gas cramps but I don't know what will cure them!

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1377062556' post='2182771'] That's very kind, thank you. I'd take you up on it if you were closer I'm in Gloucestershire and the bass is in Wiltshire [/quote] Any normal day I'd have said that I'd come along anyway, but I've taken a few days off to do some building work on my house; my timescale for the work I need to do wouldn't allow for a 6 ish hour break. Hope the bass is in good order. Let us know when you've got it.

Ah, the GBE750; God how loved mine, but it was just too heavy so I sold it on and put the money towards the Shuttlemax 12.2. The amp sounds a tiny bit clearer than the GBE750, but a lot of that could be down to swapping the Genz 6x10 for a berg 2x12. If the weight of the GBE gets too much then I'd highly recommend the switch.

I love living where I do. There are approximately 15 sites within about a 3 mile radius that have outdoor mini festivals every year. Most Friday and Saturday nights in the summer I can sit in my back garden, sipping a beer, and listen to live music. I get to hear anything from unsigned originals band and pub covers bands(a fair share of tribute bands too) right through to bands you used to love but thought had split up decades ago. A couple of years ago Tyketto headlined on the Saturday night, and the wind was in just the right direction, that it wouldn't have been much clearer if I'd been sitting in my lounge listening to a live recording. I've often wondered what some of my less music loving neighbours think of it, but we think it's brilliant. Oh, and before someone asks why, if I love listening to the local live music so much, why don't I get a ticket and go? That's the plan for next year once the kids are old enough to enjoy it.

Not sure where you and/or the bass are located, as I'm using the mobile site, but I'm not at work tomorrow so if you want a bit of backup/a second pair of eyes on the bass then PM me some details and I'll see if I can help. Ta

[quote name='Dandelion' timestamp='1376982723' post='2181675'] Its called " positive action". It is a government initiative to increase the relative frequency of bass players in the famous population. [/quote] If you increase the frequency of bass players; my memory of GCSE physics tells me you'd turn them in to guitarists!

All you have to do to satisfy paypal is send a package, couriered and signed for, to an address and provide a reference. PayPal then check the reference, see that it was delivered and signed for, and find in favour of the seller. They pretty much never check that the address tallies especially when an item started out as collection only as people tend to want things like this shipped to work addresses. I know this as a mate was stung by a similar scam on a Gibson ES335.

If you are really set on keeping a four string bass, but want five string low notes, then why not get a set of five string strings and just not use the G string?

Warwick Streamer. Played one; it felt nice, it sounded nice, was a lovely looking example. Still don't like them and I don't know why

[quote name='Deep Thought' timestamp='1374575991' post='2150254'] My speakers live in the garage-I keep my amps indoors, but the speakers (with covers) have been fine thus far (touch wood). [/quote] If you can touch wood then the garage environment has not been kind to the carpet/tolex on your cabs. I know that the OP has decided against the garage for storage. My useful two cents is that a lot of self storage places have rooms that are not much bigger than an 8x10. Rates on these are (in my experience) far cheaper than renting a garage somewhere.

Mansun; wow, now there's a band I've not thought about in years. I was never a massive fan, I was starting to move away from the "indie" scene by that point, but I did like them. Saw them a few times, although the only time I remember was when they supported shed seven at rock city, and they always put on a good show. Might have to spend the day cd shopping now. The wife'll love that!

I classify myself as a solid player. I have not been "taught" musical theory, but was amazed at how much I've absorbed through experience. It was enough to be able to hold my own in a conversation with a guitarist who'd been to music college. What ever band I've been in I've been able to work well with the drummer and provide a solid rhythm section. When I write bass lines they fit the feel and style of the songs well. I've never had complaints about my abilities, and I've even had people come up to me after gigs telling me that they thought I was really good. To me I'm as good as I need to be. I look at videos posted by members and other virtuoso players and "wow, by comparison I can barely even play" then I remember that I have a wife, a family, a full time job and a social life. If I wanted to sacrifice other aspects of my life and dedicate time to it then I could probably be as good as anyone, but, I'm good enough for me. If I ever audition for a band and get told that I'm not good enough then I'll rethink my stance. Until that day; I'm a solid, confident, bassist with a large amount of gigging and recording experience. And with that, I'm off to put the baby to bed.

[quote name='jonnpip' timestamp='1375134904' post='2157221'] so i should know this by now the years ive been on bass but,if my genz benz 9.2 amp is 4 ohms and my berg cab is 4 too, is it not safe to hook a 2x12 4 ohms cab to the other output on the amp ? or does this reduce this to 2 ohms...advice please ? [/quote] This would be the exact reason I got the 12.2. All my favourite cabs are 4ohm and you never know when you might want to double up the cabs. N.B. - I said want to double cab, not need. I think 2 berg HD212's on the 12.2 amp is the dictionary definition of a weapon of mass destruction!

I use my wife's skullkandy(sp?) hesh 2.0's. They sound pretty close to my berg 212.

I found it rather strange too, not entirely unpleasant, but definitely strange! It did convince me to go bass - octave - amp, thus saving a cable and potential failure point.

Just to clarify, my follow up question was: When using my octave pedal on one of the channel effects loops, in mix mode (Shuttlemax amp), why do I get a delay/echo effect?

These are the kind of questions that I usually think of in the middle of the night, but by the time I wake up in the morning I've forgotten all about it. And I've just realised the answer to my follow up question. Yay me! The answer is phase shift!

It's been mentioned already, but, I'm gonna throw another vote for the focus MKII hatch. Last year it took the following to a gig we played in Bolton: 2 Marshall 4x12 cabs 1 Ashdown 4x10 combo 1 Ashdown 1x15 cab 1 orange thunderverb 50 head Full compliment of drum hardware My case of bits n' cables The guitarists case of bits n' cables Then I opted for the 18" floor tom on the passenger seat rather than the drummer.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1372234421' post='2123076'] Normally just one bass is repellant enough to conclude that. There may be another formula here. If, merely by being a bass player it means most women are no longer potential wives anyway does that mean that the micro-minority of women who pledge allegiance to a bass player is not going to mind whether he has multiple basses or not. (Mine doesn't mind as such, in fact she even provided the wherewithal for a Sabre. I think I just lose a little respect when another one turns up.) So is there a formula for the likelihood of a bass player actually attracting a mate (low probability), and then the mate being sympathetic with his cause (therefore high remaining probability)? [/quote] You do raise a good point. I have also attracted one of these fabled "Bass player" loving women. She has very little objection to my GAS relieving ways, as long as the little ones are fed clothed and watered. On the other hand though, when she moved in she came complete with piano and drum kit accessory pack! So maybe we need to factor the musical partner variable. The formula will soon rival the one that all kitties fear!

Assuming no use of credit facilities; the formula with no limits is NtF /a Where: Nt is the number of months you've been playing bass F and a are as before

I've been giving this some serious thought and believe that many very important variables have been missed from this: O = optimum number of basses n = number of basses owned when co-habitation commenced m = time in months of co-habitation a = average cost of desired basses F = amount of disposable income that can be diverted in to a separate account per month without being noticed L = number of levers in the mortice lock on the music room door. So, my carefully considered equation O = n+((mF)/a) L)+2 Essentially this means that if the partner has permanent access to the music room then you can only ever have number of basses that is two higher than when you moved in together. worked example n = 2 m = 100 a = 1500 F = 200 L = 0 O = 2 + ((100x200)/1500)x 0) + 2 O = 2 + ((20000)/1500) x 0) + 2 O = 2 + ((13.333) x 0) + 2 O = 2 + (0) + 2 O = 4 The addition of a 5 lever mortice lock to the music room door would dramatically increase the optimum number of basses. That is all!

Last night was great. The sound wasn't brilliant, but the performance was good!

I will be there tomorrow. Taxi booked to take me down there in the morning and pick me up tomorrow night. If it's even half as good as Twickenham '08 then it is going to be incredible!